


Still Got You

by Pickwick12



Category: White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: Brotherhood, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Neal Caffrey Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29662119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pickwick12/pseuds/Pickwick12
Summary: One-shot about the first day Peter Burke arrested Neal Caffrey, and the day fifteen years later when Neal chose to come in.(This was going to be a section in a different story, but then I felt like it deserved its own.)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	Still Got You

Ready?” Peter asks.

“Ready,” Neal answers.

Fifteen years ago:

Peter Burke takes in the very welcome sight of Neal Caffrey. Dressed to look older than he is. Shaggy hair across his eyes. Wants to be a man so bad.

The handshake is an act of bravado. Peter sees questions in those eyes. Caffrey isn’t angry so much as curious, as eager to see the one who finally managed to catch him as Peter is to see the one he’s caught. Peter can see that Neal wants him to think he’s impassive, unaffected, as cool in capture as he’s ever been. He stores that detail away, that intuition that Caffrey cares a whole lot what Peter thinks about him. 

You would almost believe Neal is as old as he dresses and tries to act, the way he walks out to the transport car wearing handcuffs like jewelry, head held high.

Peter rides with him, not willing to let the biggest catch of his career get out of his sight. Neal is quiet, his face unreadable in the rearview mirror. Peter can’t wait to question him, to find out more about his criminal Mozart.

They disembark at the federal building chosen for intake. Nothing ordinary for Caffrey. Peter figures his prisoner is enjoying the attention and fanfare of having scores of police around and teams of agents waiting to question him.

Except, Peter Burke isn’t always right. As he gets out of the SUV, he brushes past Neal, the uniformed cops taking their places around him to prevent any attempts at escape as he’s escorted into the building. That’s when Peter feels it, barely perceptible, hidden under layers of iron control: as hard as he’s trying not to, the kid is trembling. 

Peter doesn’t comment on what he knows. He just turns around and comes back, taking his place right next to Neal. “I’d like to take him in,” he says to the police, indicating for them to fall back. He doesn’t care if they think this is some weird ego trip for him.

And then he puts his hand out, resting it on the center of Neal’s lower back. Not pushing, just there. To anyone watching, it would look like an agent using custodial touch to bring in a prisoner. But Neal relaxes under his hand. The trembling stops, as Peter had hoped it would.

The kid gives Peter a split-second side glance, and Peter nods, almost imperceptibly. Nobody else notices, but Neal does, and then he takes a deep breath.

Peter smiles to himself. For the second time in one day, he’s blown Neal Caffrey’s mind. The first thing, catching him, was impressive, checkmate, proof that somebody alive was as smart as he was. Maybe he was projecting, but Peter had a hunch Neal might actually be relieved to find that out. 

The other thing, that was surprising in a different way. It said justice and mercy didn’t have to be opposed enemies, that the guy who put you in handcuffs might also have your back. It was pretty clear from Neal’s reaction that he’d never before known anyone who mixed the two. And he didn’t know what to think about it.

Peter just keeps his hand where it rests, until he has to let go. But he stays. He doesn’t go home until they’re ready to lock the kid up for the night, even though he doesn’t have to be there. And Caffrey knows it.

Today:

“Neal, are you sure? I could try to keep you out of it. The government thinks you’re dead.”

Neal shakes his head. “We’ve been over this, Peter. The evidence has to have a source. I knew what I was doing when I got into it, what it would mean.”

“I don’t—” Peter stutters, “I don’t know how it’s going to go in there. If you’re not dead, you’re technically a fugitive to them.”

Neal nods. “Nothing I haven’t been before.”

Peter gives him a long look, and Neal smiles. “Seven years,” Peter says, “and this is what it took.”

“You know why, Peter,” he says. 

“I know why,” Peter answers. And then Neal feels Peter’s hand on his back, just like the dizzying, terrifying day when he’d first been arrested and that same hand had brought him back to earth and anchored him so he didn’t implode.

“I’m not a kid any more,” he says softly. 

“No, but I‘ve still got you,” Peter answers. 

They walk together toward the unfriendly building, toward Neal Caffrey giving up his easy life to give evidence that will protect the life of the man next him and his family, that will put away people plotting to harm them. There was only one thing that could have brought Neal out of the shadows.

They stop in front of the door, and Peter smiles at him, a big brother, you got this, I’m on your side kind of smile.

“Ready?” Peter asks.

“Ready,” Neal answers.


End file.
